Autograph  Collections  and  Historic 
Manuscripts 


by 
Gen.  Gates  P.  Thruston 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
LOS  ANGELES 


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LiJ?^  A  »\* 


AUTOGRAPH  COLLECTIONS   ANF 
HISTORIC  MANUSCRIPTS. 


By  g h N .  u 


T  H  R  I!  SIGN 


Reprinted  from  the  SEWANSr-KEViftWvi^rliiary,  190: 


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AUTOGRAPH  COLLECTIONS  AND 
HISTORIC  MANUSCRIPTS. 


BY  GEN.  GATES  P.  THRUSTON 


Reprinted  from  the  Sewanee  Review,  January,  1902. 


AUTOGRAPH  COLLECTIONS  AND  HISTORIC 
MANUSCRIPTS. 

The  title  of  this  paper  should  perhaps  be  "The  Auto- 
graph Mania."  I  am  not  an  autograph  collector  in  the  or- 
dinary acceptation  of  that  term.  I  have  only  a  kind  of  col- 
lateral interest  in  the  subject,  and  in  the  more  serious  sub- 
ject of  collecting  books  and  manuscripts. 

There  have  been  several  important  autograph  sales  recent- 
ly in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  by  some  chance  the  hand- 
somely illustrated  catalogues  were  sent  to  me,  giving  the 
prices  paid  for  the  various  manuscripts  and  autograph  letters, 
and  in  a  measure  reviving  the  interest  I  felt  in  my  younger 
days  in  this  fascinating  hobby,  for  with  many  collectors  it  is 
merely  a  hobby.  These  sales  have  suggested  some  reflec- 
tions on  the  general  subject. 

The  student  of  history  naturally  drifts  into  an  interest  in 
manuscripts,  letters,  and  documents  relating  to  events  and  men 
of  note.  The  temptation  to  collect  and  own  them,  to  become  a 
bibliophile  in  the  department  of  history  or  literature,  often  fol- 
lows; and,  unless  the  collector  is  wise  and  conservative,  this 
increasing  and  generally  expensive  taste  is  apt  to  degen- 
erate into  a  mere  collecting  and  accumulating  habit.  His  li- 
brary will  grow  in  books  and  manuscripts  without  really 
stimulating  him  to  study  and  digest  the  historical  material  in 
store. 

It  seems  but  a  single  step  from  collecting  historical  works 
and  manuscripts  to  collecting  letters  of  historic  or  biograph- 
ic value ;  and  soon  thereafter,  unless  the  victim  calls  a  halt, 
ther^  is  great  danger  of  drifting  into  that  absorbing  state  of 
crankiness  which  leads  the  collector  to  devote  time,  money, 
and  valuable  enthusiasm  to  gathering,  classifying,  and 
treasuring  commonplace  letters,  notes,  receipts,  indeed 
scraps  of  paper,  merely  because  they  have  been  signed  by 
men  famous  in  history  or  literature,  or  in  the  musical  or  dra- 
matic world. 


^\ 


^«L. 


Autograph  Collections  and  Historic  Manuscripts.        3 

There  is  no  true  love  of  history  or  historical  research, 
and  little  benefit  to  the  collector,  in  the  accumulation  of  an 
autograph  collection,  unless  the  historic,  biographic,  or  lit- 
erary value  of  the  material  is  uppermost  in  his  mind;  and 
unless  he  makes  a  specialty  of  securing  manuscripts  and 
letters  relating  to  some  particular  field  of  research  or  litera- 
ture, the  result  will  prove  disappointing,  and  will  degenerate 
into  the  mere  dissipation  of  collecting.  A  collection  of  mis- 
cellaneous letters  or  literary  curios,  as  a  rule,  must  be  of  lit- 
tle value.  The  intelligent  collector  will  also  draw  the  line 
against  the  mere  signatures  of  even  famous  characters.  They 
should  be  assigned  to  the  souvenir  class. 

Unhappily,  the  enthusiastic  collector  sometimes  becomes  so 
fascinated  by  his  hobby  that  he  proceeds  to  exhaust  his 
store  of  postage  stamps  in  writing  to  noted  people  begging 
for  autographs.  Ah,  this  is  desecration  !  The  true  disciple 
and  lover  of  historic  and  literary  treasures  will  scorn  to  con- 
>.  descend  to  such  malpractice.  Think  of  a  fellow  having  the 
nerve  to  indite  an  epistle  to  Queen  Victoria,  the  Empress  of 


0= 


oe 


^     India,  in  these  words:    "Please  kindly  send  me  your  auto- 
graph, and  oblige  a  great  admirer.     Inclosed  find  postage 


5?  stamp."  And  yet  the  good  Queen  rewarded  an  acquaint- 
•f>  ance  of  mine  by  having  her  secretary  send' him  an  apparent- 
o    ly  genuine  signature. 

Some  years  since  I  was  looking  through  a  friend's  auto- 
graph portfolio,  and  came  across  a  letter  from  John  For- 
§  syth,  the  distinguished  editor.  I  suppose  my  friend  had 
^  written  for  his  autograph  in  the  usual  way,  inclosing  a  post- 
g  age  stamp.  His  characteristic  reply  was  in  the  following 
ui     words: 

2f  Mobile,  Ala. 

H  Mr. .•  O  yes!     You  are  one  of  those  d d  fools  who  are  al- 

<      ways  bothering  people  about  their  autographs.     Here's  mine. 

John  Forsyth. 

Tennyson,  the  poet  laureate,  was  often  annoyed  by  the 
autograph  cranks,  but  he  rarely  rewarded  them.  One  wom- 
an is  said  to  have  begged  him  so  many  times  for  a  sentiment 
and  signature  that  he  finally  wrote  the  words,  "Ask  me 
no   more,"  as  a  sentiment.     Kipling,  it  is  said,  frequently 


461452 


4        Autograph  Collections  and  Historic  Afanuscripts. 

charges  for  his  autographs  and  turns  the  money  over  to 
some  convenient  charity.  Paderewski,  the  pianist,  was 
kind  enough  to  write  on  the  parchment  of  a  banjo  sent  to 
him  with  the  request  for  a  musical  sentiment:  "I  have  not 
the  pleasure  of  being  a  performer  upon  this  beautiful  instru- 
ment.    I  am  only  a  piano  player.     J.  I.  Paderewski." 

A  banker  in  Austin,  Tex.,  as  I  learn,  is  making  a  most 
remarkable  and  ambitious  attempt  at  autograph-collecting. 
Sometime  since  I  received  a  polite  note  from  him  asking  me 
to  aid  him  in  securing  letters  of  my  grandfather  and  uncle. 
I  was  surprised  at  the  inquiry,  but  subsequently  learned  that 
he  was  actually  making  a  systematic  effort  to  obtain  the  let- 
ters of  all  persons  whose  names  appear  in  Appleton's  Cyclo- 
pedia of  Biography,  a  work  of  six  large  volumes,  including, 
I  suppose,  nearly  as  many  names  as  a  New  York  City  Di- 
rectory. Think  of  the  labor  of  such  an  enterprise !  I  hear 
that  he  he  has  already  accumulated  a  vast  store  of  letters 
and  documents  and  has  systematically  arranged  and  classi- 
fied them. 

Scholars  and  lovers  of  literature  in  Tennessee  and  the 
Southwest  seem  to  have  shown  little  disposition  to  collect  and 
treasure  literary  and  historical  mementos,  letters,  and  docu- 
ments, as  few  collectors  are  known.  Mr.  Joseph  S.  Carels, 
of  Nashville,  Librarian  of  the  Tennessee  Historical  Society, 
has  a  notable  collection  of  autograph  letters,  to  which  he  has 
devoted  a  half  century  of  industry,  enthusiasm,  and  system. 
Its  gems  may  be  found  in  some  of  the  glass  cases  of  the  His- 
torical Society  rooms.  His  collection  embraces  letters  of  all 
the  Presidents  of  the  United  States  and  of  all  the  Governors 
of  Tennessee.  Letters  of  emperors,  kings,  and  queens  are 
also  plentiful.  One  of  the  oldest  royal  letters  is  that  of 
Charles  L,  of  England,  written  in  1530,  three  hundred  and 
seventy-one  years  ago. 

The  Tennessee  Historical  Society  is  also  the  fortunate 
possessor  of  a  large  and  rare  collection  of  autographic  ma- 
terial in  manuscripts,  letters,  and  documents.  Probably 
the  collection  of  no  State  Society  in  the  South  can  rival  it, 
excepting  that  of  the  Virginia  Historical  Society.     Theodore 


Autogra-ph  Collections  and  Historic  Manuscripts.        5 

Roosevelt,  in  preparing  the  "Winning  of  the  West," 
found  the  archives  of  the  Tennessee  Historical  Society  a 
veritable  treasury  of  pioneer  history.  Scores  of  letters  of 
Jackson,  Sevier,  Blount,  Robertson,  Donelson,  Polk,  and 
other  public  men  of  Tennessee,  are  filed  away  there,  as  also 
a  most  interesting  letter  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  The  Socie- 
ty also  possesses  the  original  commission  of  Gen.  Israel  Put- 
nam, of  the  Revolution,  and  Gen.  Nathaniel  Greene's  mil- 
itary cipher  book.  Among  its  manuscripts  are  the  original 
records  of  Washington  County,  Tenn.,  beginning  with  the 
proceedings  of  the  first  county  court  in  1778;  the  original 
records  of  the  State  of  Franklin  of  the  year  1786;  and  the 
original  journal  kept  by  Col.  John  Donelson,  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  city  of  Nashville,  of  his  historic  voyage 
down  the  Tennessee  River  through  the  Indian  country  to  the 
Ohio  River,  and  up  the  Cumberland  to  the  settlement  at 
Nashville.  It  is  entitled,  "  Journal  of  a  voyage  intended  by 
God's  permission  in  the  good  boat  'Adventure,'  from  Fort 
Patrick  Henry  on  the  Holston  River.  Kept  by  John  Donel- 
son, Dec.  22,  1779." 

My  own  portfolio  of  autographs  came  mainly  by  inheritance, 
of'd  chances,  and  good  luck.  My  grandfather,  Judge  Buck- 
ner  Thi-uston,  a  native  of  Virginia,  was  in  official  life,  and  a 
resident  of  Washington  City  for  a  half  century  or  more.  He 
was  one  of  the  first  United  States  Senators  from  the  State  of 
Kentucky,  a  colleague  of  Henry  Clay;  was  Federal  Judge 
of  Orleans  Territory;  and,  later,  for  thirty-six  years  Judge 
of  the  United  States  District  Court  at  Washington.  His  in- 
teresting and  varied  correspondence  happened  to  fall,into 
my  hands.  While  visiting  my  aunt  in  Washington,  soon 
after  I  left  college,  she  suggested  that  I  might  find  something 
of  interest  in  his  old  papers,  packed  away  in  a  trunk  in  an 
attic  room.  I  was  soon  at  work,  and  it  was  nearing  midnight 
before  I  left  the  dusty  old  trunk.  Averitable  epistolary  bonan- 
za I  found  there;  material  enough,  indeed,  to  give  the  auto- 
graph fever  to  any  youngster  fond  of  books  and  with  a  taste 
for  things  antiquarian.  Unhappily  I  was  too  young  and  too 
ignorant  to  value  properly  the  manuscripts  and  documents, 


6        Autograph  Collections  and  Historic  Manuscripts. 

and  I  devoted  my  search  mainly  to  letters  from  men  whom  I 
happened  to  know  were  prominent  in  public  life.  A  second 
gift  of  letters  and  papers  of  considerable  value  fortunately 
came  to  me  through  an  uncle,  a  retired  rear  admiral  in  the 
navy,  who  had  spent  his  official  life  of  sixtj^  years  in  Wash- 
ington, when  not  at  sea  or  abroad. 

This  double  series  of  letters  and  papers  included  autograph 
letters  of  nearly  all  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States  and 
men  well  known  in  public  life  at  Washington  during  three- 
quarters  of  a  century.  Letters  from  Henry  Clay,  John  J. 
Crittenden,  and  Kentuckians  were  most  numerous.  There 
were  several  from  Edward  Livingston,  Albert  Gallatin,  Bush- 
rod  and  Lawrence  Washington,  Francis  Scott  Key,  Webster, 
Calhoun,  Gen.  Henry  Lee,  C.  J.  Ingersoll,  Admiral  Farragut, 
Edward  Everett,  Tom  Corwin,  and  the  lesser  lights  of  public 
and  social  life  at  the  national  capital  and  elsewhere. 

Henry  Clay's  letters,  written  in  a  clear  and  pleasant  style, 
were  mainly  devoted  to  social  and  business  matters.  In  a 
letter  from  Pittsburg,  in  1810,  he  wrote  that  he  had  hurried 
on  to  that  point  ahead  of  his  family,  "to  arrange  to  descend 
,the  Ohio,"  and  that  he  had  left  at  a  neighbor's  "some  im- 
portant papers,  reports,  and  maps,  and  an  old  pair  of  sherry- 
vallies,  such  as  the  sarcastic  pen  of  Gen.  Lee  had  defended 
against  the  wanton  malevolence  of  Miss  Franks.  Please  be 
good  enough  to  send  for  them,  and  have  them  cared  for  until 
my  return."  Sherry vallies ?  What  are  sherr3'^vallies?  Upon 
examining  the  Century  Dictionary,  I  find  that  a  humble  pair 
of  leggings  bore  that  high-sounding  title  in  pioneer  da3'^s. 

In  a  characteristic  note  Daniel  Webster  writes:  "Will 
you  dine  with  me  on  Saturday  at  4  o'clock — a  sort  of  bachelor 
dinner  with  two  or  three  friends?  Did  you  ever  eat  a  '  Dun 
fish?'"  I  presume  a  "Dun  fish"  must  have  made  a  palata- 
ble dish,  as  tradition  tells  us  that  the  great  Daniel  was  de-" 
voted  to  his  stomach  as  well  as  to  his  country. 

There  is  a  four-page  letter  from  John  Quincy  Adams, 
Secretary  of  State,  written  in  1820,  to  my  uncle,  the  Libra- 
rian of  the  State  Department  at  Washington,  giving  detailed 
instructions  for  arranging  and  conducting  the  library.     No 


Autograph  Collectiotis  and  Historic  Manuscripts.        7 

one  was  better  qualified  to  write  such  a  letter  than  this  book- 
loving,  system-loving  old  New  Englander.  He  seems  to  have 
been  laying  the  foundation  of  the  present  fine  library  of  the 
State  Department. 

A  long  letter"  of  John  C.  Calhoun's,  written  in  1844,  harps 
on  the  subject  generally  uppermost  in  his  mind.  "It  is  a 
great  mistake,"  he  says,  '*with  many,  both  north  and  west, 
that  South  Carolina  is  hostile  to  the  Union  as  it  came  from 
the  hands  of  its  framers.  But  she  believes  that  the  Union 
may  be  destroyed  as  well  by  consolidation  as  by  dissolution ; 
and  that  of  the  two  there  is  much  more  danger  of  the  former 
than  the  latter,"  etc. 

Among  the  papers  in  my  portfolio  I  find  a  written  agree- 
ment signed  in  1835  ^7  Francis  Scott  Key,  author  of  the 
"  Star-Spangled  Banner,"  for  the  purchase  of  a  negro  slave. 
The  agreement  begins  as  follows:  "Whereas  Judge  Thrus- 
ton  and  myself  have  agreed  to  purchase  a  slave  named  Ste- 
phen Clark  from  his  master,  Samuel  Hamilton,  of  Maryland, 
for  the  price  of  six  hundred  dollars,  for  the  purpose  of  ena- 
bling said  slave  to  obtain  his  freedom  by  paying  up  the  pur- 
chase money  and  interest  as  he  shall  be  able  to  do  by  his  earn- 
ings from  time  to  time,"  etc.  Worthy  and  capable  slaves 
were  frequently  purchased  in  those  days  by  their  white 
friends  to  enable  them  to  buy  their  freedom  by  their  labor. 

My  collection  of  books,  autographs,  and  papers,  begun  in 
my  youth,  was  supplemented  in  later  years  by  many  addi- 
tions. The  epoch-making  years  of  the  civil  war,  of  course, 
brought  rare  opportunities  to  an  army  officer  with  a  predi- 
lection for  preserving,  and  sometimes  perhaps  for  confisca- 
ting, historic  souvenirs.  A  few  of  them  may  be  of  general 
interest.  After  nearly  two  years  of  hard  and  dangerous 
service  with  my  regiment,  I  was  promoted  to  staff  duty 
among  the  magnates  of  the  Union  army  in  Tennessee. 
While  with  Gen.  Rosecrans,  after  the  battle  at  Murfrees- 
boro,  as  his  senior  aid-de-camp,  it  became  my  pleasant  duty 
to  copy  many  of  his  important  official  and  semiofficial  let- 
ters. The  kind  old  General  wrote  hastily  and  forcibly,  but 
with  many  interlineations  and  erasures.     The  original  letters 


8        Autograph  Collections  and  Historic  Manuscripts. 

occasionally  fell  into  my  hands,  instead  of  the  wastebasket 
or  the  office  file.  This  was  during  the  time  of  Gen.  Rose- 
crans's  rather  heated  controversy  with  Gen.  Halleck  at 
Washington,  in  which  Gen.  Garfield,  our  chief  of  staff  and 
messmate,  unhappily  became  later  involved. 

Here  is  the  first  draft  of  one  of  Gen.  Rosecrans's  sharp 
letters  to  Gen.  Halleck.  I  copied  it  at  the  time,  and  I  find 
it  in  my  file : 

MuRFREESBORO,  Feb.  I,  1863. 

Major  General  Halleck,  Washington:  I  am  surprised  that  you  mistake  my 
meaning.  I  do  not  complain;  I  point  the  way  to  victory.  I  tell  you  how  I 
think  force  is  to  be  created  at  slight  expense.  This  war  will  demand  such 
considerations,  and  many  more,  to  save  the  waste  of  human  life.  Already 
our  thinned  regiments  testify  to  this,  and  show  no  substantial  gain  from  re- 
cruiting. I  wish  to  be  distinctly  understood  as  making  no  compiaints.  The 
great  point  I  make  is,  the  government  pays  the  cost  of  cavalry  troops,  with- 
out getting  the  benefit  of  their  strength. 

The  other  is  that,  no  matter  what  the  government  has  done  or  left  un- 
done for  this  army,  policy  and  duty  alike  demand  means  to  meet  the  com- 
ing emergency.  Why  should  the  Rebels  control  the  country  which,  with  its 
resources,  would  belong  to  our  army,  because  it  can  muster  the  small  per- 
centage of  six  or  eight  thousand  more  cavalry  than  we.''  I  want  superior 
arms  to  supply  the  place  of  numbers.  Give  revolving  rifles  in  place  of  pis- 
tols. We  must  have  cavalry  arms,  and  the  difference  between  the  best  and 
the  worst  is  more  than  one  hundred  per  cent  on  the  daily  cost  of  the  troops. 

£xcuse  my  earnestness  in  this  matter.  I  probably  see  more  clearly  than 
I  can  explain.  W.  S.  Rosecrans,  Major  General. 

In  my  list  I  find  the  original  draft  of  an  order  written  and 
signed  by  Gen.  W.  T.  Sherman,  at  Fayetteville,  N.  C, 
March  12,  1865,  announcing  to  his  army  that  his  forces 
had  reached  the  sea  a  second  time,  that  he  was  in  commu- 
nication with  Wilmington,  and  would  soon  receive  supplies 
by  river  from  that  city. 

An  original  letter  from  Gen.  George  H.  Thomas  may 
prove  of  interest.  It  will  be  remembered  that  a  Provisional 
Legislature  met  at  Nashville  soon  after  the  war  to  reestab- 
lish civil  government  in  Tennessee.  It  was  largely  com- 
posed of  members  loyal  to  the  Federal  Union  and  Republic- 
an in  politics.  Parson  Brownlow  was  Governor.  Gen. 
Thomas  commanded  the  Military  Department  and  the  Fed- 
eral forces.  During  the  reconstruction  period,  and  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  formal  acts  of  the  Legislature  of  Tennes- 


Autograph  Collections  and  Historic  Manuscripts.         9 

see,  large,  life-size  portraits  of  Gen.  Thomas  and  Gov. 
Brownlow  were  ordered  to  be  painted  and  hung  in  the 
Library  at  the  Capitol,  where  they  may  still  be  seen.  By 
legislative  enactment,  also,  an  artistic  gold  medal  was  for- 
mally presented  to  Gen.  Thomas.  By  and  by,  however, 
a  change  came.  The  Confederates  were  enfranchised,  and 
the  Democrats  and  Confederates  soon  got  control  of  the 
Legislature  and  State  administration.  Thereupon  some  rad- 
ical member  proceeded  to  offer  resolutions  condemning  the 
pictures  and  threatening  to  have  them  removed  from  the 
Capitol  and  sold  at  public  auction. 

The  incident,  of  course,  got  into  the  newspapers  and  soon 
came  to  the  notice  of  Gen.  Thomas,  then  commanding  the 
Department  of  the  Pacific.  "Old  Pap  Thomas,"  as  his 
soldiers  called  him,  was  a  Virginian  of  the  old  school,  and  a 
gentleman  to  the  very  core.  He  was  greatly  annoyed  by 
the  uncomplimentary  resolution.  In  a  letter  to  me  from  Cal- 
ifornia in  November,  1869,  he  writes: 

The  portrait  was  not  painted  at  my  desire.  If  I  had  known  the  Legis- 
lature was  contemplating  having  it  done,  I  should  have  asked  some  of  my 
friends  there  to  stop  the  proceeding.  The  first  I  knew  of  it,  as  well  as  of 
the  medal,  was  after  they  had  been  decided  upon,  and,  presuming  they  had 
passed  the  resolution  after  due  deliberation,  concluded  it  would  be  better  to 
assent  cheerfully  than  attract  public  attention  by  declining. 

You  can  assure  the  members  of  the  Legislature  that  I  am  the  last  man 
in  the  United  States  who  would  be  willing  to  impose  on  any  person  or  com- 
monwealth, and  that  I,  through  you,  propose  to  return  to  the  State  the  gold 
medal  ordered  to  be  struck  and  presented  to  me  by  the  Legislature  as  com- 
memorative of  my  services  and  of  the  troops  under  me.  I  also  stand  ready 
to  refund  to  the  State  treasury  the  amount  expended  for  my  portrait,  etc. 

Soon  afterwards  I  showed  the  letter  to  the  newly  elected 
Governor,  John  C.  Brown,  one  of  the  best  and  ablest  men 
in  the  State.  As  I  expected,  he  kindly  requested  me  to  let 
the  incident  pass  without  further  notice,  and  said  that  he 
would  see  that  the  uncomplimentary  action  proposed  would 
meet  the  same  fate. 

During  my  long  residence  in  Nashville  a  number  of  inter- 
esting letters  and  papers  have  drifted  into  my  hands.  I  find 
in  my  portfolio  three  promissory  notes  written  and  signed  by 
John  Bell,  the  statesman,  in  August,  1861.     They  called 


lo      Autograph  Collections  and  Historic  Manuscripts. 

for  the  payment  of  several  hundred  dollars.  Soon  after  the 
close  of  the  war  they  were  sent  to  me  for  collection.  He 
was  not  able  to  pay  them,  of  course,  nor  did  I  ever  mention 
them  to  him.  Dear  old  John  Bell,  whose  memory  they  re- 
call, was  one  of  our  great  Tennesseeans — indeed,  one  of  the 
great  men  of  the  nation.  Unhappily  his  spirit  and  fortune 
were  crushed  by  the  sad  realities  of  the  Civil  War.  He 
could  scarcely  tell  which  he  loved  best — the  South  or  the 
Union.  He  died  soon  afterwards.  His  heart  must  have 
been  broken  in  the  intensity  of  the  struggle. 

I  have  also  a  letter  of  some  interest  from  David  Crockett 
to  President  Jackson.  The  President  is  addressed  as  *'The 
Excellency,  the  President  of  the  United  States." 

But  to  return  to  the  recent  public  sale  of  autographs  in 
Philadelphia  I  have  mentioned.  The  prices  obtained,  I 
think,  must  have  been  in  the  main  disappointing.  Some 
days  there  was  a  regular  slaughter  of  the  heroes.  Military 
magnates,  statesmen,  presidents,  orators,  kings  and  queens, 
poets  and  actors,  all  fell  under  the  auctioneer's  hammer  at 
trifling  prices.  Sometimes  the  letters  or  papers  of  persons 
comparatively  unknown  brought  very  high  figures,  owing  to 
contests  fCmong  the  bidders,  or  the  desire  perhaps  of  some 
descendant  to  possess  them. 

The  two  names  that  usually  command  the  highest  prices 
at  autograph  auctions  are  those  of  Washington  and  Lincoln. 
As  is  well  known,  Washington  was  a  painstaking  and  volu- 
minous letter  writer.  There  seems  no  end  to  his  genuine 
letters  and  papers.  At  the  recent  sales  they  brought  good, 
standard  prices — from  $25  to  $100.  I  have  a  good  military 
letter  of  Washington's  written  at  Army  Headquarters  in 
1778,  and  addressed  to  "  Thomas  Wharton,  Esquire,  Presi- 
dent of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania."  It  seems  that  the  title 
of  Governor  was  adopted  later.  Ben  Franklin  once  had  the 
honor  of  being  '*  President  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania." 

At  the  sale  Lincoln's  letters  brought  from  $17  to  $50. 
These  letters  are  rarely  on  the  market.  Lincoln  was  such 
an  earnest  character  that  all  his  letters  seem  worth  saving. 


Autograph  Collections  and  Historic  Manuscripts.       ii 

They  are  generally  filed  away  in  the  hands  of  his  biographers 
and  friends.  The  only  autographic  souvenir  I  have  of  the 
martyred  President  consists  of  a  few  words  on  the  back  of  a 
note  written  by  my  stepfather  to  him  in  1861  and  indorsed : 
"  I  will  call  in  fifteen  minutes.     Lincoln." 

A  letter  of  President  John  Adams  sold  at  the  sale  for 
$27.50.  Jefferson's  letters  brought  from  $7  to  $10.  He 
was  a  ready  writer  on  many  subjects,  and  had  a  large  cor- 
respondence. Letters  of  Ben  Franklin  brought  from  $20 
to  $25,  a  manuscript  $79.  They  are  rare.  A  letter  of  Paul 
Jones,  the  hero  of  our  navy,  brought  $70;  one  of  Benedict 
Arnold,  $45  ;  a  letter  of  President  Zach  Taylor,  $22.50.  A 
letter  of  William  Penn,  the  founder  of  Pennsylvania,  brought 
$96.  The  letter  was  written  in  London  in  1681  and  seems  pro- 
phetic. He  wrote  that  he  is  about  to  start  for  America,  and 
predicts  its  glorious  future:  "Mine  eye  is  to  a  blessed 
government,  and  a  virtuous,  ingenious,  and  industrious  soci- 
ety, so  as  people  may  live  well  and  have  more  time  to  serve 
ye  Lord  than  in  this  crowded  land.  God  will  plan  America 
and  it  will  have  its  day  in  ye  kingdom,"  etc. 

Letters  of  President  Taylor,  William  Henry  Harrison,  and 
Andrew  Johnson  are  very  rare.  A  letter  of  Harrison's 
brought  $17.50.  He  was  President  but  about  a  month,  and 
wrote  few  letters.  Johnson  learned  to  write  late  in  life,  and 
had  a  very  limited  correspondence.  At  the  sale  letters  of 
President  Jackson  brought  from  $3  to  $15.  It  seems  that 
Jackson  must  have  written  nearly  as  miany  letters  as  Wash- 
ington. His  letters,  like  his  state  papers,  are  forcible  and 
characteristic.  The  popular  idea  of  the  severity  of  the 
old  General's  nature  is  disproved  by  his  correspondence, 
especially  by  his  letters  to  his  friends  and  the  members  of  his 
family.  Many  of  them  are  full  of  kindness,  sometimes  even 
of  tenderness.  They  also  show,  culture  and  refinement  as 
well  as  force.  I  have  one  letter  that  contains  a  ridiculous 
error  in  the  way  of  spelling — a  letter  to  the  Hon.  James  K. 
Polk,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  whom  he 
addresses  as  **  Col.  Poke,"  manifestly  a  piece  of  careless- 
ness on  Jackson's  part. 


12      Autograph  Collections  and  Historic  Manuscripts. 

In  my  list  of  letter  writers  I  find  the  poorest  speller  is  the 
great  cavalry  general,  Bedford  Forrest.  There  are  more 
than  a  dozen  errors  in  spelling  in  a  half-page  letter  writ- 
ten by  him.  He  beat  Davy  Crockett  as  a  misspeller.  He 
wrote  a  good  letter,  however,  with  force  and  directness, 
but  simply  ignored  the  rules  of  Webster  and  Worcester  and 
spelled  "any  old  way,"  according  to  sound  and  conven- 
ience, just  as  he  ignored  all  military  rules  in  fighting.  Gen. 
Forrest  was  fortunately  endowed  by  nature  with  a  genius  and 
personality  that  overcame  all  obstacles,  even  the  lack  of  an 
early  education. 

At  the  Philadelphia  sale  President  Polk's  letters  brought 
fro'm  four  to  five  dollars.  Letters  of  Presidents  Fillmore, 
Pierce,  Tyler,  Van  Buren,  and  Buchanan  brought  the  low- 
est prices,  as  they  are  still  plentiful  and  easily  obtained.  A 
letter  of  President  Grant's  brought  $12.50.  Letters  of  Presi- 
dents Hayes,  Garfield,  and  Ben  Harrison  brought  from  six  to 
eight  dollars.  Strange  to  report,  the  letters  of  the  series  of 
Moderators  of  the  early  Presbyterian  General  Assemblies, 
sold  at  the  sale  in  Philadelphia,  averaged  in  price  nearly  as 
much  as  the  letters  of  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States — 
from  $3  to  $23.  One  series  brought  $76.  Philadelphia  is 
one  of  the  great  centers  of  Presbyterianism. 

Some  years  ago,  noticing  in  a  catalogue  that  autograph  let- 
ters of  two  of  my  Presbyterian  ancestors  were  to  be  sold  at 
Philadelphia — letters  of  Jonathan  Dickinson,  the  first  Presi- 
dent of  Princeton  College,  A.D.  1746,  and  of  William  C. 
Houston,  delegate  from  New  Jersey  to  the  Convention  that 
framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States — I  sent  to  the 
auctioneer,  Mr.  Henkels,  a  bid  of  $5  for  each  letter,  thinking 
that  I  should  probably  get  them.  Imagine  my  surprise  and 
innocence  when  he  wrote  me  after  the  sale  that  "Dickin- 
son's sold  for  $75  and  Houston's  for  $40,"  figures  away  be- 
yond our  Southwestern  ideas  of  values. 

At  the  recent  sales  the  autograph  letters  and  documents 
of  the  great  kings  and  queens  of  history  fared  about  as 
well  as  the  series  of  the  Presidents.  A  document  signed  by 
Queen  Elizabeth  of  England  sold  for  $15  ;    a  letter  signed  by 


Autograph  Collections  and  Historic  Manuscri-pts.       13 

Frederick  the  Great,  for  $10.  Letters  of  Henry  of  Navar- 
re, Empress  Josephine,  and  Marie  Antoinette,  each  brought 
$10.  One  signed  by  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  $16;  a  docu- 
ment, $9.  A  Louis  Napoleon  letter  brought  $9.  A  letter 
of  Emperor  Charles  V.,  A.D.  1500,  brought  $15.  A  docu- 
ment signed  by  Oliver  Cromwell  in  1650  sold  for  $50; 
letters  of  George  IIL,  $9.  The  good  Queen  Victoria  had 
a  long  reign,  and  signed  thousands  of  letters  and  papers. 
These  sold  for  from  $4  to  $5.  A  letter  of  Gladstone's,  $9, 
had  double  the  market  value  of  the  Queen's. 

In  my  collection  I  have  a  handsome  commission  signed  by 
♦'Victoria  Reg."  in  1867,  with  four  royal  seals  stamped 
upon  it.  I  have  also  a  letter  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington. 
It  seems  surprising  that  the  letters  and  documents  of  the  fa- 
mous kings  and  queens  are  constantl}'  on  the  market  at  au 
tograph  sales.  The  dealers  in  the  large  cities  trade  in  them, 
and  I  suspect  they  are  generally  commonplace  documents 
or  letters  signed,  and  of  no  special  intrinsic  or  historic  value. 
Most  of  them  must  be  classed  as  autographic  souvenirs. 

Letters  of  the  prominent  generals  of  the  civil  war  brought 
widely  varying  prices  at  the  recent  sales.  Letters  of  Gen. 
Grant,  Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee,  and  Gen.  Thomas  J.  Jackson 
are  always  favorites  and  bring  good  prices,  especially  if 
they  have  some  historic  value.  A  good  war  letter  of  Jack- 
son's brought  $15;  one  of  Lee's,  $7.50.  A  letter  of  Gen. 
Sheridan,  written  to  Grant  on  the  eve  of  Appomattox, 
brought  $20.  A  letter  of  Gen.  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  sold  for  $5; 
one  of  Admiral  Farragut's,  for  $4.50.  Merel)'^  common- 
place letters  and  notes  of  the  most  distinguished  generals 
brought  less  than  a  dollar.  A  good  military  letter  of  Gen. 
Nathaniel  Greene's,  of  the  American  Revolution,  written  in 
1777,  was  sold  for  $21,  while  the  next  item  at  the  sale,  a 
paper  merely  signed  by  Gen.  Greene,  brought  but  ten  cents 
— a  very  just  discrimination  as  to  values. 

A  fine  letter  of  Maj.  Gen.  Charles  Lee,  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, at  one  time  second  in  command  to  Gen.  Washington, 
brought  $65.  Lee  was  much  more  brilliant  as  a  writer  than 
he  was  as  a  general.     His  ill  temper  ^nd  jealousy  of  Gen. 


461452 


14      Autograph  Collections  and  Historic  Manuscripts . 

Washington  brought  him  finally  into  disgrace.  After  the  war 
he  settled  in  Virginia.  My  great-grandfather,  Col.  Charles 
M.  Thruston,  an  officer  of  the  Revolution,  was  one  of  his 
executors.  His  remarkable  will,  published  in  his  memoirs, 
is  often  quoted.  Among  other  provisions,  it  contains  the 
following  unique  clause;  "I  desire  most  earnestly  that  I 
may  not  be  buried  in  any  church  or  churchyard,  or  within  a 
mile  of  any  Presbyterian  or  Anabaptist  meetinghouse ;  for 
since  I  have  resided  in  this  country  I  have  kept  so  much  bad 
company  when  living  that  I  do  not  chuse  to  continue  it  when 
dead."  In  the  will  he  bequeathed  fifty  guineas  to  Col. 
Thruston,  as  he  states,  "  in  consideration  of  his  good  quali- 
ties and  the  friendship  he  has  manifested  for  me;  and  to 
Buckner  Thruston,  his  son,  I  leave  all  my  books,  as  I  know 
he  will  make  good  use  of  them."  Some  of  these  books  of 
Gen.  Lee's  came  to  me  by  inheritance,  and  I  now  have 
them  in  my  library. 

I  have  also  in  my  library  two  original  general  order  books 
kept  b}'  Capt.  Phillips,  of  the  Second  New  Jersey  Regiment, 
one  of  my  ancestors,  during  the  Revolutionary  War.  -  The 
orders  were  entered  each  day  as  they  came  from  army  head- 
quarters. The  first  entry  was  a  brigade  order  announcing 
Gen.  Anthony  Wayne's  victory  at  Stony  Point: 

Headquarters,  Wyoming,  25  July,  1779. 
The  General  congratulates  the  army  upon  the  glorious  and  important  in- 
telligence  just  received  from  his  excellency  General  Washington's  head- 
quarters in  a  letter,  as  follows: 

"Headquarters,  New  Windsor,  16 July,  1779. 
"  Permit  me  to  congratulate  you  upon  the  success  of  our  arms  in  this 
quarter  of  a  most  glorious  and  interesting  nature.  Brigade  General  Wayne, 
with  a  part  of  the  light  infantry,  surprised  and  took  prisoners  the  whole  of  the 
garrison  of  Stony  Point,  last  night,  with  all  the  cannon,  stores,  mortars,  how- 
itzers, tents,  baggage,  etc.,  without  the  loss  of  more  than  four  killed,"  etc. 

Among  other  old  documents  I  have  an  original  parchment 
deed,  or  warrant,  signed  at  Mobile,  Ala.,  in  1773,  by  E. 
Durnford,  "  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  his  Majesty's 
forces  in  West  Florida,"  conveying  a  tract  of  land  in  Mis- 
sissippi. A  handsome  wax  seal,  five  inches  in  diameter  and 
stamped  with  the  British  arms,  is  attached  to  the  document. 


Autograph  Collections  and  Historic  Manuscripts.       15 

It  was  signed  before  the  Revolutionary  War  and  during  the 
very  brief  period  in  which  England  held  authority  in  West 
Florida.  The  deed  appears  to  be  unique,  as  no  similar  one 
is  known,  even  at  Mobile. 

I  have  also  in  my  library  a  well-preserved  manuscript  book 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  beautifully  written  and  illustrated. 

But  returning  again  to  the  Philadelphia  autograph  sales, 
there  were  a  few  literary  gems  that  sold  for  good  prices.  A 
good  letter  of  Walt  Whitman's  brought  $16 ;  a  letter  of  Oliver 
WendellHolmes's,  $12.50.  The  latter  contained  a  verse  from 
his  fine  poem,  the  ''Pilgrim's  Vision,"  read  at  the  Plymouth 
anniversary: 

The  weary  Pilgrim  slumbers, 

His  resting  place  unknown, 
His  hands  were  crossed,  his  lids  were  closed, 

The  dust  was  o'er  him  strewn; 
The  drifting  soil,  the  moldering  leaf, 

Along  the  sod  were  blown; 
His  mound  has  melted  into  earth, 

His  memory  lives  alone. 

Autograph  verses  of  Longfellow  and  Whittier  brought  $8 
each;  a  letter  of  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  $17;  one  of  Wash- 
ington Irving's,  $6. 

As  a  rule,  the  recent  sales  indicate  that  while  the  average 
prices,  especially  of  commonplace  things,  were  low,  there 
are  still  collectors  who  are  willing  to  pay  full  and  even  fancy 
prices  for  historical  manuscripts  of  real  value,  for  literary 
gems,  for  autograph  verses  of  the  great  poets,  and  for  signed 
fragments  of  great  music.  It  seems  that  history,  sentiment, 
fancy,  and  ability  to  pay,  all  enter  largely  into  autograph 
values.  The  scarcity  of  an  autograph  is  sometimes  its  most 
valuable  quality.  While  a  good  military  letter  of  Gen.  Robert 
E.  Lee  brought  but  $7.50  at  the  Philadelphia  sale,  his  letter 
to  Gen.  Winfield  Scott  in  1861,  resigning  his  commission  in 
the  United  States  army,  easily  brought  $500  at  the  Donald- 
son sale;  a  memorandum  of  the  plan  of  campaign  in  1861, 
in  the  autograph  of  President  Lincoln,  brought  $520;  and  a 
letter  of  Gen.  Sherman  to  Gen.  Grant,  outlining  the  Atlanta 
campaign,  brought  $49. 


i6      Autograph  Collections  and  Historic  Manuscripts. 

We  are  often  surprised  at  the  prices  paid  at  the  European 
sales.  Think  of  an  offer  of  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  for 
a  single  autograph!  That  amount  was  offered,  we  are  told 
in  one  of  the  London  papers,  for  a  genuine  signature  of 
Shakespeare.  The  ambitious  bidder  is  not  likely  to  part 
with  his  money,  however,  as  it  is  said  there  are  none  on  the 
market.  The  British  Museum  paid  some  $16,000  for  its 
specimen,  years  ago.  The  Spanish  government  paid  $5,000 
for  a  Columbus  autograph.  Two  letters  of  the  unfortunate 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  written  just  before  her  execution, 
brought  the  large  sum  of  four  thousand  pounds  sterling. 

At  the  latest  autograph  and  manuscript  sales  in  London,  a 
lot  of  letters  of  Walter  Scott  brought  $1,500  (in  English 
money);  a  page  of  the  "Newcomes,"  in  the  autograph  of 
Thackeray,  $105;  a  letter  of  Robert  Burns,  containing  a 
verse  of  poetry,  $290;  letters  of  David  Garrick,  $2,225;  ^ 
portion  of  the  ancient  manuscripts  belonging  to  the  famous 
Ashburton  Library,  $156,000.  If  you  should  wish  to  pos- 
sess the  scrap  of  a  letter  or  an  autographic  memento  of  Ad- 
dison, or  Thomas  Gray,  or  Samuel  Johnson,  the  old-time 
lights  of  English  literature,  it  would  cost  you  from  $25  to 
$100;  more,  indeed,  than  a  letter  of  the  English  sovereign 
who  reigned  in  their  day. 

The  music  lovers  also  seem  to  have  money  as  well  as  sen- 
timent, if  we  may  judge  from  the  way  they  are  victimized  at 
the  sales.  A  letter  of  Mendelssohn's  brought  $8.50  at  the 
Philadelphia  sale;  a  letter  of  old  Johann  Strauss,  $8.  At 
the  late  London  sale — think  of  it — "the  manuscript  of  the 
trombone  parts  of  the  ninth  symphony,  in  the  autograph  of 
Beethoven,"  brought  $225;  a  musical  manuscript  of  Schu- 
bert, $165 ;  and  at  the  latest  Paris  autograph  sale,  a  letter  of 
Mozart  sold  for  460  francs  ($92),  the  highest  price  realized 
at  the  sale,  though  the  letters  of  Napoleon,  Gambetta,  and 
other  great  men  came  under  the  auctioneer's  hammer.  It 
seems  that  the  army  of  collectors  is  still  at  large,  and  that  the 
real  autographic  gems  and  masterpieces  of  history,  literature, 
and  music  will  continue  to  command  sentimental  prices  in  the 
markets  of  the  world. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


Form  L-f 
23m-10,'41(2191) 


THE  LIBRAJ?"' 

v'i?.T?5?TTY  OF  C/ 
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Z41 

T41a  Thruston  -     , 

Autograph 

collections  and  histor- 
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